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2009-06-29

Can augmented reality technology finally make it easy to do the right thing?

Augmented reality allows you to see, in real time, data about your surroundings. It’s different from having the internet on your phone—you don’t actually have to look anything up, and you don’t actually have to know exactly what you’re looking for. Augmented reality is more like a having a sixth sense—and a seventh and eighth sense—that makes data a natural, passive part of how you see the world.

So how does this work? Last week, a Dutch company, SPRXmobile, introduced the first-ever augmented-reality browser platform for a smartphone. It’s fairly simple to explain. The software uses two basic features found on smartphones—a compass, and a GPS system. From there, it knows exactly where you are—and, just as important, which direction your phone is pointing. And this is where things get interesting. Armed with that knowledge, SPRXmobile unveiled a rack of applications

Press release: The first mobile Augmented Reality browser premiers in the Netherlands

AMSTERDAM, Tuesday June 16th, 2009. Mobile innovation company SPRXmobile launches Layar, worlds first mobile Augmented Reality browser, which displays real time digital information on top of reality (of) in the camera screen of the mobile phone. While looking through the phone’s camera lens, a user can see houses for sale, popular bars and shops, jobs, healthcare providers and ATMs. [...]

2009-06-28

'Colossal' Magnetic Effect Under Pressure

(PhysOrg.com) -- Millions of people today carry around pocket-sized music players capable of holding thousands of songs, thanks to the discovery 20 years ago of a phenomenon known as the “giant magnetoresistance effect,” which made it possible to pack more data onto smaller and smaller hard drives. Now scientists are on the trail of another phenomenon, called the “colossal magnetoresistance effect” (CMR) which is up to a thousand times more powerful and could trigger another revolution in computing technology.

The structure models for F-type and A-type magnetic ordering in manganite in response to pressure. The arrows inside orbitals indicate the spin direction of d electrons.

A “Colossal” Magnetic Effect under Pressure

Photo: Yang Ding (left) of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and Daniel Haskel (right) of Argonne shown with x-ray instrumentation used to probe the magnetic ordering of Mn ions in a manganite material at high applied pressures and cryogenic temperatures.

2009-06-26

Living trees are one of nature’s best carbon capturers; planting them can help counteract the carbon emissions of everything from cars to planes (though they're just a small part of a bigger solution). But the artificial version created by Columbia University professor Klaus Lackner has been grabbing carbon 1,000 times more quickly than the rooted versions (and “several hundred times better,” according to Lackner, than windmills) for a total of 90,000 tons of carbon each year--even without sunlight.

Synthetic Tree Soaks Up Carbon 1000x Faster Than the Real Thing

Each synthetic plant promises to do the work of a thousand old-style wooden trees

Klaus Lackner, a professor at Columbia University who is developing the tree, met with U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu last month to talk about the concept. In an interview with CNN, Lackner said the synthetic tree is "several hundred times better at collecting CO2" than windmill generators. Lackner says that for every 1,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide collected, the tree emits just 200 kilograms. This ratio is more than enough to warrant the relatively high cost of building the trees (about the same as a new automobile) or retrofitting coal plants.

More than a year ago, Sir Richard Branson launched the Virgin Earth Challenge which promises to grant $25 million to anyone who can come up with the best method to capture significant amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide. While we've seen potential contenders before, a group of scientists from Columbia University in New York headed by Klaus Lackner, seems to be leading the pack.

Artificial trees: A green solution?

Carbon capture, in the form of "artificial trees", is one idea explored in the BBC Two documentary Five Ways To Save The World. But could these extraordinary machines help to mitigate our excessive burning of fossil fuels and its consequence, global warming?

Artificial trees mimic one of the greatest carbon capturers on earth

Professor Lackner estimates that every tree would remove 90,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year

The idea of talking to plants was introduced in 1848, when Dr. Gustav Theodor Fechner, a German professor, suggested the idea in his book Nanna (Soul-life of Plants). He believed that plants were capable of emotions, just like humans, and you could promote healthy growth by showering your plants with attention and talk. [...]And in 1970, New York dentist George Milstein released Music to Grow Plants By, a record of songs to play for your plants. In fact, a few studies seemed to confirm that classical or soothing music would benefit plants, while loud aggressive music, like rock music, could cause them to wither and die. If you are a proponent of the theory, there are several records out there to help your houseplants be happy and healthy.

Music-loving Plants and Music-giving Plants

Experiments show that plants thrive if soothing instrumental music is played in the background. On the other hand they shrivel and die if exposed to heavy metal or rock music. And now a Japanese company has created a gadget that puts you in touch with the 'feelings' of plants.